Key Takeaways
- Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle final chapter complete, new series in 2025, delighting fans.
- Cyberpunk masterpiece, Alita series set in post-apocalyptic future, beloved by fans for over 30 years.
- Franchise success, inspiring live-action adaptation, no plans for anime, manga still available.
The 56th and final chapter of Gunnm: Kasei Senki, known to English audiences as Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle, is complete. On Monday, series author Yukito Kishiro took to his official blog to announce the completion of the chapter, and that the Battle Angel Alita story will continue as a new series in 2025. The Mars Chronicle manga followed the protagonist Gally (“Alita” in the English version) as she traced her roots back to Mars, and had been on hiatus from October 2022 to January 2024.
Fans of the cyberpunk classic, or its 2019 live-action film adaptation will be absolutely buzzing to hear that the series continues, more than 30 years since its original serialization.
The Battle Angel Alita manga is available to read on Kodansha’s website.
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Basic Plot of Battle Angel Alita
A Cyberpunk Masterpiece
The Battle Angel Alita franchise, created by Yukito Kishiro, was originally serialized in Shueisha’s Business Jump magazine from 1990 to 1995. It is set in a post-apocalyptic, cyberpunk future in the aptly named Scrapyard, a literal dumping site for the residents of the floating city of Zalem. A certain scientist discovers a cyborg in a junkyard and decides to rebuild and take care of her. The cyborg, named Gally/Alita, has no memories except those of a strange martial art called Panzer Kurst, and decides to help Dr Daisuke Ido in his work as a bounty hunter. When he finds her, only her head and chest are intact but in a state of suspended animation, but after building a body for her Alita becomes a prolific bounty hunter, killing several criminals in Scrapyard before a traumatic loss sends her on a quest to rediscover who she is.
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Titles in the Gunnm Franchise |
||
|
Title |
Publisher |
Publish Date |
|
Battle Angel Alita |
Shueisha |
1990 – 1995 |
|
Last Order |
Kodansha |
2000 – 2014 |
|
Mars Chronicle |
Kodansha |
2014 – 2024 |
|
Unknown |
Unknown |
2025 – |
About the Franchise
Business Jump’s Big Break
The manga ran for nine volumes between 1990 and 1995, with its sequel, Battle Angel Alita: Last Order, running for 19 volumes from 2000 to 2014, initially serialized in Shueisha’s Ultra Jump magazine from 2000 to 2010, before continuing in Kodansha’s Evening magazine for the remainder of its run. The third series in the Battle Angel Alita franchise, Mars Chronicle, was serialized in Evening from 2014 to 2022, had a two-year hiatus before continuing in Kodansha’s Comic Days from 2022 until its recently-completed 56th and final chapter. A spin-off of the original series titled Ashen Victor was released from September 1995 to July 1996. In 1993, a two-episode OVA titled “Battle Angel” produced by KSS Inc., Movic, Animate and Madhouse was released with Hiroshi Fukutomi as director. At the time, series author Kishiro was very busy with the manga and not too serious about an anime adaptation.
I’ve been drawing manga since before I can remember, but it wasn’t until high school that I started to ink my work seriously. I’ve always liked mecha —
Mobile Suit Gundam
had an incredible effect on me — and my art has been affected by it for years. I couldn’t draw people, but I could sure draw mecha.
At this point, there are no plans for an anime adaptation. The classic came into mainstream conversation when a live-action Hollywood adaptation directed by Robert Rodriguez and produced by James Cameron and Jon Landau, starring Rosa Salazar. Battle Angel Alita has gone down as one of the greatest titles in the sci-fi genre, reflecting inspiration from legends of the genre including Isaac Asimov. Yukito Kishiro’s brilliant art, worldbuilding and characters, and its inclusion in Business Jump led to the magazine reaching a monthly sales count of over 760 000 during the period of 1990 to 1995, the highest in its history. During that same period, Business Jump saw over 50 million copies enter circulation, raking in an estimated ¥10.74 billion (approximately US$135 million). The next installment in the Battle Angel Alita story will begin next year, but no information has been revealed as yet.
Source: ANN
